Love me Like I am

13: Exploring Volterra

Agana stood behind Caius as he ended the phone call.

"Trouble in Volterra?" She stepped around him, noting his eyes closing.

"A matter that unfortunately requires my presence back in the castle." He sighed, hand reaching up to knead his forehead.

"When do we leave?" She leaned up and gently removed his hands, replacing them with her own, rubbing away the tension.

"I'm heading out as soon as I get you settled."

"I'm coming with you."

He held her wrists, looking down at her. "I am not forcing you to go with me. We both know how your lasts visits to the castle have gone. I don't want to leave you here, but I also don't want to force you-"

"Caius." She shook her head, smiling a little at his frustration. "I want to go with you. I have some questions for your brothers anyway. And you haven't solidified your side of the bond yet. So it would be stupid to leave me here, as the bond will cause me to chase after you as soon as you're out of sight."

"You're right." He sighed. "I would be honored if you came with me."

Agana smiled, head tilting back as she stepped further into his space. "Anything we need to do to close this house up?"

"No. There is a cleaner that comes periodically to make sure the house is available for our use."

"Is there a repairman?" She motioned to the shattered front door.

"They'll make sure it's taken care of." Caius wrapped an arm around her. "I'll call my guards to meet me at the airport. Would you like Stephen and Vladimir to come with you?"

"I need to at least apologize for my behavior this last week." She grimaced.

"You are a newborn. Your emotions are heightened and you felt hunger for the first time. You aren't going to be in control until your mind has caught up on what your body has gone through."

"True. Thank you for that reminder." She leaned into him. "I think I'll invite Stefan and Vladimir to join me."

"Excellent."

As the castle came into sight, Agana began picking at her thumb, mind returning to all the painful memories contained within the walls. Caius reached a hand over and clasped her hand in his, running his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Valerie, when we arrive in the garage, report to Aro. Let him know that I will speak to him and Marcus in the morning."

"Yes Master." The guard looked back at them, making eye contact with Agana and smiling at her.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking you on a proper tour of Volterra. Luckily, today is one of our few rainy days." Caius smiled at her.

"Really?" Agana's eyes widened. "I have always wanted to explore this city, even before I knew about the Volturi living here. Can we see the art museum?"

"We have plenty of time and no lack of places to see." He opened the car door once the car had stopped, offering Agana a hand to help her out.

"Have fun brother." Marcus nodded to them from the doorway. "Stefan, Vladimir, if you would like to accompany me?"

Caius tugged her hand, leading her up a flight of stairs that ended with a thick steel door.

"Stay close and let me know if your control is slipping."

"Of course."

They entered onto the street, merging into the gentle stream of people. Agana looked around in awe.

"Were you here when they built this?"

"Marcus founded the city and stayed in the background while it developed. Once Aro and I joined him, we agreed to make this our home city and enforced the law of no feeding within the walls. Somehow it got around that it was the founder of the city that was responsible for casting out the vampires, and the legend of Saint Marcus was born."

"I'm sure he loves that."

"He enjoys seeing the different things people do. But not much has caught his interest as of late."

"Because of his mate?"

"Something like that."

They walked down the street, ducking into an alley. Caius knocked on a door and it opened, a old woman looking out at them. She opened the door for them and then disappeared into a side room, leaving the two of them alone.

"What is this place?" Agana looked up at the ceiling, eyes tracing the different scenes depicted on the material.

"This is the history of the Volturi. I thought you would like to see it."

They walked down the hallway, the walls quickly opening into a circular chamber, niches and hallways lining the walls.

"Which part of our history would you like to see?"

"Surprise me."

Chuckling, Caius led Agana into a side archway, leading her down the corridor until they reached another circular room. This room was filled with pedestals, showcasing different pieces of daily life from the Roman era.

"This is when we kings met. We were all coming to investigate a disturbance within the Roman hierarchy. Turned out to be a group of newborns. But that's when we decided to form our own coven. Aro and Marcus had begun looking to add members so that they could expand their coven and I was looking to join one."

"So right place right time?"

"Yes."

Agana smiled, frowning when her phone began ringing.

"Yes Alice?"

"You two need to get to the throne room immediately. It's Alejandro."

"Got it." Agana ended the call.

Caius led her out of the building and they strode along the street, people ducking out of their way as they went.

They hurried into the castle, flashing down the hall and stopped just outside the doors of the throne room.

"And what brings you to Volterra?" Aro's voice echoed out into the hallway.

"I'm looking for Agana. I have reason to think that she has become one of you."

"Interesting." Marcus spoke.

Agana threw open the doors and walked in. "I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation." She stopped next to the man, the two of them standing before the thrones.

The man turned to her. "Hello sister."

Sorry that it took so long to update this! I lost motivation while trying to juggle three jobs this summer. But I'm settling into a new job, that I love, and that also allows time to write if the shift is slow. Hopefully, I'll finish this story soon and can work on some new ones for ya'll. 

If you see anything that I need to fix, let me know.